"Straight away I thought - what a lovely bloke. He knew everything about the club. All the history."
That was the verdict of Bournemouth's incoming manager just days into the job, and it hasn't taken Marco Rose long to settle in at the Vitality Stadium. There was little reason to expect otherwise. This is a club whose approach to succession planning is regarded as among the best in the Premier League - one that lost more than £250m worth of playing talent in a single summer and still went on to enjoy the most successful campaign in its 123-year history.
Rose isn't being asked to be a carbon copy of Andoni Iraola, but the hope is he isn't far removed either. He has certainly made getting to know the club and its people as much of a priority as his predecessor did.
"Right from the start, not just him but his staff went round every department, gave them a time of day," club legend and ambassador Steve Fletcher tells Sky Sports. "It didn't matter if you were a groundsman or in the accounts or media or marketing or you're a chef.
"He went up and he chatted to them all. And it's not just lip service, I can see he has a real interest in everybody."
On the pitch, if continuing the club's high-pressing identity is the aim, then a coach schooled under Jurgen Klopp is a sensible appointment. Given how closely their footballing beliefs overlap, it's little surprise Iraola himself has long admired Rose's work.
"Marco Rose's Gladbach was one of my favourite teams," he said back in 2023.
Iraola's own methods have followed him to his new post. According to our earlier coverage, Liverpool players have been left lying on the floor by the intensity of his pre-season sessions, with Milos Kerkez detailing the discipline and detail behind the new Anfield boss's approach.
Back at Bournemouth, Iraola's Cherries produced the third-most direct attacks in the Premier League last season and finished with the fourth-most shots generated from high turnovers. Crucially, they also scored the fifth-most goals in the division - only 13 fewer than champions Arsenal.
"Andoni didn't leave a lot of space to improve," admitted Rose in pre-season. "The pressure is on."
He has already tried to respond. Bournemouth have scored 21 goals across five pre-season friendlies, with new centre-back Antonio Silva even earning praise for his contribution in the final third. Silva arrived from Benfica this summer, and as we reported in our piece on Bournemouth looking to Silva as the next defender to flourish, coach Joao Nuno Fonseca has backed him to thrive in the Premier League following an early rise, a stalled spell at his previous club, and 181 appearances for Benfica.
Evanilson appears to have shifted from a focal-point striker into more of a False 9 role, with the two wide players - most likely Rayan and Ben Gannon-Doak, or alternatively Justin Kluivert - encouraged to run beyond him. On early evidence, it has worked well. Klopp's Liverpool, anyone?
Not that too much should be read into pre-season form, least of all a 10-1 win over Genoa, a side who actually conceded fewer league goals than Bournemouth did in Serie A last season. But friendlies do offer a sense of direction, and if there's an area Rose wants to sharpen, it looks to be in front of goal.
That wouldn't be out of character. Rose's only season in charge of Borussia Dortmund, five years ago, saw the club smash their own league scoring record with 85 goals - more than they managed in any season even under his mentor Klopp. It was defensive frailty, particularly in Europe, that ultimately cost him that job, and finding the right balance between domestic and continental commitments is likely to be Rose's sternest examination this season.
Pre-season setback and a squad largely settled
Not everything in pre-season has gone smoothly. Bournemouth's warm-up fixture against Real Betis finished 2-2, and Rose himself was sent to the stands after being shown a red card during the match, according to the BBC. The club have since said their incoming transfer business is "95% complete", though Rose stressed the squad and injury situation are still being monitored, per the same report.
Even as the club's third-highest all-time goalscorer, Fletcher believes adapting to a continental fixture list will be the biggest challenge facing the squad.
"We've got to acclimatise to playing Thursday and Sunday. Your fixtures could get changed rapidly and we've got to be very adaptable and that's going to be new for this football club," he said, speaking as MrQ celebrated becoming AFC Bournemouth's new official sleeve partner.
"Fortunately the manager is very experienced but for a lot of the players who are not experienced to playing in Europe it's going to be a big adjustment. It's going to be one hell of an occasion. I'm sure there'll be a few tears shed by everybody."
Bournemouth's European involvement stems from a sixth-place finish last season, which secured qualification for the UEFA Europa League, according to the Guardian. Rose himself was appointed to succeed Iraola on a three-year deal beginning after the conclusion of the 2025-26 campaign, per the BBC.
A settled summer has given Rose time to embed his ideas early, with two of the club's three permanent additions arriving at least three weeks before the Premier League season got under way. But arguably the shrewdest business of the window has been the deals that haven't happened. Alex Scott has spent much of the transfer period linked with a move to a so-called big-six club, yet Bournemouth have made abundantly clear their intention to keep him at the Vitality Stadium.
Eli Kroupi Junior, meanwhile, looks destined for the top sooner rather than later, but isn't going anywhere in the short term after suffering a foot injury during a training camp in Austria last month.
If Iraola could produce a record-breaking season after losing his best players, the question now is what Rose might achieve having kept hold of his. Whatever unfolds, it looks unlikely to be a dull campaign at the Vitality.
What happens next
Bournemouth's Premier League opener takes them to Manchester City on 23 August 2026 at 14:00 BST, live on Sky Sports, before a home fixture against Everton on 29 August 2026, according to the BBC. The Europa League league-phase draw, which will shape Rose's early continental fixture list, is scheduled for 28 August 2026, per Sky Sports.
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